Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Lincoln (30 September 1960-) was a US Senator from Arkansas (D) from 3 January 1999 to 3 January 2011, succeeding Dale Bumpers and preceding John Boozman. Lincoln had previously served in the US House of Representatives from Arkansas' 1st district from 3 January 1993 to 3 January 1997, succeeding William Vollie Alexander Jr. and preceding Robert Marion Berry.

Biography
Blanche Lambert was born in Helena, Arkansas on 30 September 1960, the daughter of a rice and cotton farmer. She graduated from the University of Arkansas before earning a bachelor's degree in biology from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in 1982, seeking to go into nursing. However, she instead became a staff assistant for William Vollie Alexander Jr., and she defeated her boss in the 1993 US House of Representatives election primary to become the Democratic representative from Arkansas' 1st district. Lincoln supported a free trade agreement with Central America and the Dominican Republic, and she affiliated herself with the centrist Blue Dog Democrats. Lincoln supported George W. Bush's tax cuts, supported the elimination of the estate tax, and supported a balanced-budget amendment. In 1998, she was elected to the US Senate after taking a break from politics due to her pregnancy, and she kept up her appearance as a conservative by opposing Obamacare. Despite this, she was defeated by Republican Party senator John Boozman in 2010, and she left office in 2011.